Tonbridge's Jemima Yeats-Brown says judo medal from Commonwealth Games will be perfect tonic as sister Jenny fights brain tumour

Tonbridge judoka Jemima Yeats-Brown is no stranger to a grapple, but her sister’s battle with cancer is the fight fuelling her quest for a second Commonwealth Games medal.

Yeats-Brown and her family got the devastating news in October that elder sister Jenny, 28, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour for which she started chemotherapy and radiotherapy that month.

Having stormed to a shock bronze as a last-minute call-up to Glasgow 2014, Yeats-Brown, 26, is bidding to return to the podium in Birmingham this summer to try and put a smile back on her sister’s face.

“It was tough because we are a really close family and when I’m away competing it’s hard to manage home life and judo life,” said Yeats-Brown.

“She's in hospital and it’s her goal to be well enough to come and watch me. She doesn’t usually get to watch anywhere in the world, so to be watching me in Birmingham would be really special.

“Whenever I’m having a hard day or a hard session, it’s nothing compared to what she’s going through, so it definitely picks me up and I just think of her.

“To come away with a medal or even a gold medal would definitely put a smile on her face.”

Yeats-Brown is one of more than 1,100 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full-time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support.

Her Tokyo 2020 dream gained momentum with fifth-place finishes at the World Championships and Paris Grand Slam.

But the chance to appear at the Olympics was cruelly and instantaneously ripped away from her after tearing her ACL for the third time three years ago.

While fighting in Budapest on July 11, 2019 - the date etched in